My Part in the Writing Process Blog Tour

The great writer Erin Entrada Kelly invited me to take part in a Writing Process Blog Tour. I had to answer four questions which are listed below. Check out my answers and let me know what you think.
What are you working on?I just finished my first manuscript for a lesbian romance set 150 years in the future. And I’m currently about 120 pages into the sequel to the first book. The characters were so much fun I just felt like they had a bigger story to tell.

How does your work differ from others in its genre?That’s a tough question, as there are several writers in the genre that I admire. I enjoy their work. My goal is to have a unique voice that resonates with readers. And to hopefully create characters that readers are invested in. But isn’t that every writer’s goal? So, I might be stating the obvious here.

Why do you write what you write?I had a very strange experience. I’ve never written long-form narratives before, but out of the blue I started hearing conversations in my head between characters. (That probably sounds a little crazy.) But I would wake up in the morning having felt like I’d just overheard a conversation between two characters, so I’d quickly write it down. I swear, it really felt like I was channeling this first book from somewhere in the ether. And when I finished the first manuscript, I missed the characters. Once I started hearing their voices again I started the second book.

What is your writing process?I try to write a rough outline…beginning, middle, end…including high and low emotional events. Then I just write scenes as they reveal themselves. I usually try to establish the opening scene, but then I jump around a little because a scene later in the book might present itself early in the writing process and then I have to go back and fill in the transition from earlier scenes.

I love writing. I really enjoy losing myself in the world of my characters. I like to walk around in their skin and see where it leads me. For example, in the first manuscript, which is now with an editor, I thought two particular characters would fall in love and instead, once I got deeper into the story, the characters led me in an unexpected direction. That was a pleasant surprise.

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3 thoughts on “My Part in the Writing Process Blog Tour”

Question number 2: “How does your work differ from others in the genre?” You don’t actually answer the question.

What makes your voice unique? What makes your characters pop off the page? Is it because you hear them in your head in the morning? Because you moved three times in a year as a child and realized you could invent friends and stories to entertain and comfort you? Is it because you waited 20 years to call yourself writer? Or do all your characters live and be relatively pleased with life at the end of your romance novels?

(*amused* I personally am exhausted by lesbian romance novels where all the stories end in death or heterosexuality. Or lesbian bed death for the gentlest of the demises.)

And a question for you..do you prefer just kind, appreciative comments or do questions to hone your craft and critiques…help? What are you feeling?

Kind, appreciative comments are welcomed… but so is a good debate. And just since you asked, I didn’t wait 20 years to call myself a writer… I’ve been a write since I was about seven. But I only just recently ventured into lesbian romance, because, like you… it previously had not interested me… either as a reader or a writer.

You’ll be happy to know that no one suffers heterosexuality or lesbian bed death at any point in my stories.